In recent years, the way of making up the face (hereinafter, simply referred to as “makeup”) has been diversified. It has become difficult, particularly for a person who has no sufficient knowledge about makeup to select appropriate makeup from countless numbers of options for makeup, because it takes an enormous amount of time and effort to actually try, judge and compare various types of makeup.
To address the above-described problem, techniques of generating and presenting a simulation image which simulates the face to which makeup is applied are disclosed in, for example, PTL 1 to PTL 3. In the techniques disclosed in PTL 1 to PTL 3 (hereinafter, referred to as “related art”), a captured image of the face to which makeup is to be applied (hereinafter, simply referred to as the “face”) is acquired. Further, with the related art techniques, the simulation image is generated by superimposing, on the acquired image, an image indicating a state of makeup, such as a lipstick and blush, when the makeup is applied to the face. With the related art, the generated simulation image is displayed at a display apparatus.
The related art allows a user to judge whether the makeup is good or bad without actually applying the makeup, thus allowing the user to select appropriate makeup with less time and effort.
However, when a lot of options for makeup are available, which option of makeup should be used to generate a simulation image becomes a problem. For example, if options of makeup inappropriate for the face of the user are continuously selected as a target for which a simulation image is to be generated (hereinafter, referred to as a “simulation target”), it may take a long time to obtain a simulation image of appropriate makeup.
To address the above problem, PTL 3 discloses a technique of selecting a simulation target from a plurality of options of makeup prepared in advance based on a predefined selection criterion. This technique enables the simulation target to be automatically narrowed down to appropriate makeup.